For south Indian movie stars, the glitter is in their title

06 Feb 2013, 05:41 AM IST

For south Indian movie stars, the glitter is in their title

Text:Jarshad NK & Sangeetha Kandavel

In the glitzy world of south Indian cinema, the difference between a mere actor and a star is a grandiose appellation – an actor’s rise to eminence is sealed only when his (yes, it is mostly the men) name is preceded by a title, not unlike with the rulers of yore.

This practice has resulted in a profusion of titles, many of them incomprehensible.

While there is the run-of-the-mill ‘Superstar’ – the title for Rajinikanth – compulsions of one-upmanship among fans of rival actors have led to the creation of ‘Rebel Star’ Prabhas in Andhra Pradesh, ‘Supreme Star’ Sarath Kumar in Tamil Nadu and ‘Challenging Star’ Darshan in Karnataka.

In pic: Rajnikanth at the annual awards event of the Ashram School in Chennai.

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Ajith Kumar

“It is just that they have lost the ability to imagine,” said actor and film historian Mohan Raman.

“Everyone wants to be known as some star.” The practice of actors having titles first originated in Tamil Nadu, from there it spread to other film industries in the south.

But stars in neighbouring Kerala have so far resisted the allure of prefixing their names with a title, possibly because film lovers are not that into hero worship there.

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Kamala Hasan

“It is a practice that probably comes from the rest of the fine arts,” said Raman.

“If you look at the history of classical music and drama, people have revelled in titles.”

He points to MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, a singer and actor, who was given the title ‘Yezhuisai Mannan’ (king of the seven notes) because of his immense popularity in the 1940s.

“I consider him the first Indian superstar. The British had to organise special trains for fans to reach his concerts.”

In pic: Actor Kamal Hasan during the 59th Filmfare Awards at Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.

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Venkatesh Daggubati

Film historian Theodore Baskaran said the practice of giving stars titles grew in popularity in the 1950s. “One of the earliest titles was for actor KR Ramaswamy.

He was called ‘Nadipisai Pulavar’ (someone who is good at acting and singing).”

Soon after, a fan gave thespian Sivaji Ganesan the title of ‘Nadigar Thillagam’(the pride of actors) and it stuck, he said.

His rival MG Ramachandran, wanted to be known as ‘Makkal Thillagam’ (pride of people) but also called himself ‘Puratchi Nadigar’ (revolutionary actor).

In pic: Venkatesh at the Protest against the service tax imposed by the Central Government.

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R Sarathkumar

Tamil Nadu may be considered by and large a peaceful state, but the word ‘puratchi’ (meaning revolution) sneaks its way into the titles of many stars and politicians.

While MGR changed his name to ‘Puratchi Thalaivar’ (revolutionary leader) after he joined politics, his political successor J Jayalalithaa calls herself ‘Puratchi Thalaivi’ (thalaivi being the feminine form of thalaivar).

Her former ally and now bitter opponent, DMDK leader Vijayakanth, had the title ‘Puratchi Kalaignar’ (revolutionary artist).

Even a comparatively recent entrant to the film industry, Vishal, couldn’t resist the allure and is called ‘Puratchi Thalapathy’ (revolutionary commander) by his fans.

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Joseph Vijay

“Most of the actors had political affiliations in the 1950s,” said Raman.

“And most of the politicians had alliterative titles like ‘Arignar’ Anna (Anna, the scholar) and ‘Kalaignar’ Karunanidhi (artiste Karunanidhi).

So, it could have been an extension of that.” He also pointed out that people liked to print their educational qualifications on visiting cards those days and most of these actors and politicians were school dropouts.

“So, it became sort of essential,” he said.

“It is also not the Indian culture to call people by their names, so having titles helped.” Baskaran said it was in the 1980s that this culture slowly made its way into the Telugu and Kannada film industries.

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Chiranjeevi

“The titles these days have no relevance to the content of their films or the kinds of people they are.”

Sometimes the titles also change with age. Actor Simbu was called ‘Little Superstar’ when he debuted as a child actor. As he grew older he became the ‘Young Superstar’. Actors even share titles across the southern film industries.

While ‘Megastar’ Chiranjeevi’s brother Pawan Kalyan in Andhra Pradesh is called ‘Power Star’ by his fans, S Srinivasan, who acted in the biggest Tamil hit this Pongal Kanna Laddu Thinna Aassaiya (Dear boy, do you feel like eating a ladoo) also calls himself by the same title.

But there are indications that this trend might change.

“I would like to be called by my name, because I have been living with it all my life,” said actor Madhav (no second name), who will make his debut in the Telugu film Hrudayam Ekkadunnadi in March.

“Even if you look at cricket, there are no titles. We don’t say ‘Superstar Dhoni’, we just call him Dhoni,” said the 24-year-old.